Abbas: "If the Arabs would want to fight, we’d be the first to fight"
Interview with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Tripoli, Libya:
“We tried the Intifada (PA terror campaign) in 2000, and it destroyed everything that we had built. If the Arabs would want to fight, we’d be the first to fight. I told them at the [Arab] Summit in Sirt [Libya]: ‘If you want war, take the lead.’ It’s not possible for us [Palestinians] to go ahead alone; they must be first, with us behind them. We shall not permit them to fight using us. One of them [Arab leaders] spoke about resistance. I said to him, ‘The Palestinian people is not interested in resistance. We, as the [National] Authority, are not interested in resistance, Hamas has abandoned resistance, they are preventing [launch of] rockets and they speak of a tahadiyeh [ceasefire]. Therefore, if he [the Arab leader] is interested in resistance, let him carry it out himself. Nothing is easier than raising a banner [that says], ‘Forward, men!’ And half an hour later we’ll get a slap in the face and find ourselves on the floor. It’s not possible for a responsible person to behave this way.”
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“We tried the Intifada (PA terror campaign) in 2000, and it destroyed everything that we had built. If the Arabs would want to fight, we’d be the first to fight. I told them at the [Arab] Summit in Sirt [Libya]: ‘If you want war, take the lead.’ It’s not possible for us [Palestinians] to go ahead alone; they must be first, with us behind them. We shall not permit them to fight using us. One of them [Arab leaders] spoke about resistance. I said to him, ‘The Palestinian people is not interested in resistance. We, as the [National] Authority, are not interested in resistance, Hamas has abandoned resistance, they are preventing [launch of] rockets and they speak of a tahadiyeh [ceasefire]. Therefore, if he [the Arab leader] is interested in resistance, let him carry it out himself. Nothing is easier than raising a banner [that says], ‘Forward, men!’ And half an hour later we’ll get a slap in the face and find ourselves on the floor. It’s not possible for a responsible person to behave this way.”
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